Watchtower Study, “Let each one of you be baptized”, Week of May 1-7, 2023, Comments and Practical Answers.

Watchtower Study, “Let each one of you be baptized”, 1-7-May-2023, Comments and Answers. 

"Let each one of you be baptized" (ACTS 2:38).

1, 2. a) In general, what happens when someone is baptized?

When someone is baptized it is a day of complete happiness, family and friends are very excited to see how the candidate has decided to dedicate his life to Jehovah, and the same person is happy and convinced to be a Jehovah's Witness. 

ADDITIONAL COMMENT

Well, when the candidates answer two questions that the speaker asks, their answers are heard confident of themselves, their family and friends are very happy. Many brothers have expressed that this was the happiest day of their lives and that they did not feel rejected, it is also the day that they are publicly expressing to the creator that they will serve him. They all come out of the water and their faces radiate happiness and the applause of all those present is heard.

1, 2. b) What will we see in this article?

This article will reinforce our desire to serve our God forever as we look at three of the many reasons we have for serving Jehovah.

OPTIONAL ANSWER

This article has been prepared for people who are thinking of being baptized, it will discuss three of the many reasons they have for serving Jehovah. But, those of us who are already baptized will also be reminded how to strengthen our desire to serve Jehovah forever.

HIS LOVE FOR TRUTH AND JUSTICE

3. Why do Jehovah's servants love truth and justice? (Psalm 119:128, 163).

We love truth and justice because we have decided to have the same point of view as Jehovah regarding being what is right, being good and clean. Furthermore, as Psalm 119:128 and 163 says, to love truth and justice implies "Hate every false way" and "Hate falsehood." We know that falsehood and toxic lies have resulted in staining the holy name of Jehovah and also in the rebellion of many people, who act like Satan, and therefore commit all kinds of injustices and evil acts. Therefore, the servants of Jehovah detest falsehood and love truth and justice.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Because this is what Jehovah expects of his servants. He is a God of truth and justice, Jesus also spoke of seeking the Kingdom and the justice of God told you that those who sought justice were happy, this is not being perfectionists, it is someone who is outraged by injustice, of course not they do justice to the defenseless, this means that we must desire with all our strength to do what is right good and clean from God's point of view God's point of view, here comes the point even though around us many people do everything On the contrary, and that is what makes the difference. We do not intend to change the world, but to change ourselves first, even if others do the opposite. 

When people decide not to love the truth, the devil can lead them to commit all kinds of atrocities, injustices, and evil acts. 

4. How has Jehovah shown that he is “the God of truth”? (See also image).

Jehovah shows that he is "The God of truth" Because he has opened our eyes and freed us from the lies of the devil. As we see in the image, Jehovah has made us understand why Satan's lie produced sin and death to all humanity. Despite what happened, Jehovah teaches us that following his guidance and his just rules is the best for us. we. Also, he is not taught to be honest and act fairly which gives us dignity and inner peace. All this shows us that Jehovah is "The God of truth" and satan is a liar.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Well Jehovah teaches the truth with generosity to the people who love him, that is very important to mention, we know it because in Psalm 31:5, the psalmist expresses these prophetic words. Our Lord Jesus Christ said: Into your hands I commend my spirit, you have rescued me, O Jehovah the God of truth. Jehovah does not force anyone, but he invites people to wake up from spiritual sleep, opens their eyes, frees them with the knowledge of the devil's lies, his system, the systems he has imposed, within this system systems of beliefs, systems of religious doctrines anti-Biblical ideas. Jehovah educates and teaches his servants to be honest to act justly and that dignifies us and gives them inner peace.

And what can we say about someone who has knowledge of the Bible, but does not act justly and is dishonest, that person then is not a sheep of Jehovah, by his own actions knowingly he is choosing to knowingly disobey Jehovah and by acting thus, he is making fun of Jehovah's generosity and teachings.

ILLUSTRATION

Satan uses a snake to talk to Eve. Satan has been staining Jehovah's holy name for thousands of years. (See paragraphs 3 and 4)

5. What can you do to stand up for truth and justice?

To defend truth and justice, what we must do is: Dedicate ourselves to Jehovah and be baptized. This means that first, we are going to make a special prayer where we will tell him that we want to serve him forever, we only accept him as our ruler and we want to obey his just rules. Then we have to be baptized to publicly show that we have dedicated ourselves to him.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

What we do with our lives will show others that we reject Satan's lies, that we stand for the truth, that we want Jehovah to be our ruler, and that we want to obey his righteous standards.

It is not that we intend to change people, force them to force them and attack them, nothing like that, that we change individually is more than enough. And if we have a family, help them also so that they can improve what we do with our lives, our actions, it doesn't matter how much knowledge we have, but how we live, how we are in private, how we are as people, how we treat our parents, our family, to our children and to our neighbors. 

With our actions we show that we reject the lies of the devil and that we defend the truth, we must be clear that it is not necessary that we go out with banners to the streets to protest and tell the lies that exist, it is not that way that we defend the truth, it is with our life, it is with our actions that we show that Jehovah is our ruler, the decisions we make and that we obey his just rules. This is very significant. The book the Kingdom of God is already ruling when he spoke in chapter 18, mentions that many are very religious, they go out to distribute magazines, they attend their places of worship, but they do not live Biblical principles.

For this then, we must commit ourselves to the creator in a prayer, that we will serve him forever, that is the dedication prayer, it is a private prayer, let's remember to whom we are dedicating ourselves, to Jehovah, it is not being done to the one who gives study , to the elders to the brothers in the congregation, or to the brothers in the branch or to the brothers in the world headquarters, it is not being dedicated to them. we are making that prayer to the creator. So no matter what others do, if they later fail Jehovah we will know who we have dedicated ourselves to.

HIS LOVE FOR JESUS ​​CHRIST

6. According to Psalm 45:4, what reasons do we have to love Jesus Christ?

This psalm shows us that Jesus defends and promotes truth, humility and justice. Therefore, if we love truth and justice and understand that Jesus takes the lead in defending it, it makes us feel love for him.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Well all the reasons in the world and this is on an individual level that we love Jesus. He always defends and promotes the truth, humility and justice, he advanced and continues to advance until he completes his Victory. So it is logical that if we love the truth we love justice, we also love Jesus Christ. 

Let's think about the courage with which Jesus stood up for truth and justice when he was here on earth. when he was here on earth he was not born and everyone welcomed him happy, on the contrary they tried to eliminate him. When he grew up, the religious leaders hated Jesus, they couldn't stand him, they hated him, they envied him, they mistrusted him, they slandered him, they spoke ill of him, they told lies about him, they told people not to listen to him and they threatened him. If they listened to him, they were going to be expelled, or even worse things. So Jesus despite all that opposition endured. 

And still meditating on what was coming to him when he gave up his life on the Madero, he didn't say, do you know what better way to go back to heaven? It was better there, these humans don't deserve anything, they don't appreciate anything. He was faithful, he defended truth and justice to the end. So that inspires us, that motivates us to imitate his example, but not only that to love him deeply...

7. What strikes you most about the humility of Jesus?

For example, the humility of Jesus meant that he would never try to take away authority from Jehovah nor seek recognition from others, rather, his father submitted and gave him Glory. In addition, as Hebrews 1: 3 says, Jesus is humble because that reflection and the exact representation of his father, therefore, in all his activities and relationships, he behaved and acted precisely as Jehovah would have behaved and acted.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Well, he being the second in command, so to speak, lowered himself by coming here to earth, and we say this because he lived as a human being, let's not think that he was in a castle, in a palace attended by servants. He was a human being, he lived as a human being, he suffered as a human being, and being the only begotten son of God, he was willing to wash the feet of the disciples, one of the tasks performed by the lowest rank servant in any royal house.  

He also always gave all the glory to his father, when people praised him he would say what I teach is not mine, instead of telling them, well yes I know all this because I lived in heaven for millions of years and you will never understand, that's how I am as you can see, he never attracted attention or Glory to himself, but always to his father, he did not seek recognition from others, he always gave all the Glory to the Father and Jesus, loves the father and perfectly imitates his personality. That is why the Bible says in Hebrews 1: 3, he is the reflection of the glory of God and the exact representation of his very being. 

8. Why do we love that Jesus is our King?

Because he is the ideal ruler. In Isaiah 50:4,5 it says that Jesus received the best training, for it was Jehovah who instructed him and named him King. Also, unlike human rulers, we can have a friendship with Jesus, he himself said in John 15: 14,15 that he considers us his friends if we love and obey his commandments. Therefore, it is a great honor to have Jesus Christ as a friend and King.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

We can ask ourselves who is better than Jesus Christ of those who have been here on earth? evidently none of them is the best ruler we can imagine, and we say this because Jehovah himself trained him, named him King. The Bible mentions that Jesus, before being a teacher, was a student in heaven. Those are the words mentioned in Isaiah 54 and 5, and we can imagine waking up in the morning to hear Jehovah teach. His ear was not rebellious or contrary to him. So before being a teacher he was a student in heaven, and he was the best student.

Let us also think about the selfless love that Jesus showed us, he was willing to give his life as a ransom, not for a few, for all the Bible says. Of course that word that is another deep topic too, but he loves his own and his sheep to the end, he deserves all our love. He explained that the people who truly love him are his sheep. They even consider them his friends, because they do what he tells them, they show it by obeying his commandments.

Now let's think about what we see around us, there are very religious people every week they attend their religious services in their religious activities, but do they obey the commandments of Jesus as John 14:15 says, and John 15:14 and 15? No, they obey traditions imposed by Rome, imposed by men, but they do not obey Jesus Christ. That is the difference between someone who is very religious and someone who truly obeys the commandments of Christ. 

9. How is the baptism of Jesus similar to that of Christians?

For example, when Jesus was baptized, he presented himself to do his father's will, in the same way when we are baptized, we publicly demonstrate that we have dedicated ourselves to Jehovah and that the most important thing in our lives is to do God's will, and not ours.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

When Jesus was baptized it was something unique, the Holy Spirit even manifested himself publicly, the creator spoke on three occasions, in which the father has spoken audibly, not through a representative but directly. The baptism of Jesus was one of those occasions, so obviously that doesn't happen in anyone's baptism here on Earth only in Jesus', but he showed up to do the will of the father. And that is something that we do when we are baptized, we present ourselves to do the will of the father, we are demonstrating publicly by making a public statement.

And having dedicated ourselves to God in private from that moment of our baptism, the most important thing for us will be to do God's will, instead of going after selfish goals or interests, we are going to serve Jehovah and take our torture stake, we are going to put aside, so to speak, our interests and we will do the will of the father. That is what we are symbolizing on the day of our baptism. Let's remember it does not say that it is dedicating or offering to a group of people or a work, we are offering our service to our creator.

Differences between the baptism of Jesus and that of his followers

The baptism of Jesus:

He did not have to dedicate himself to Jehovah because he was born into a nation that was already dedicated to God (Ex. 19:4-8).

He did not have to repent of any sin or ask God for a good conscience because he was perfect (Heb. 4:15; 1 Pet. 2:22).

The baptism of the followers of Christ:

Today, there is no race or nation dedicated to Jehovah, as was ancient Israel (Acts 10:34, 35). Today, followers of Jesus dedicate our lives to Jehovah before being baptized.

In order to be baptized, human beings, who are imperfect, must first repent of the sins committed and ask God for a good conscience (Acts 2:38; 1 Pet. 3:21).

10. What reasons do you have for loving Jesus, and what should that love motivate you to do?

We have many reasons to love Jesus: he is the king that God has chosen to rule over us. We know that he is humble and perfectly imitates the personality of Jehovah. In addition, we have learned how he fed the hungry, comforted the discouraged, and healed the sick. Which shows us what he will do in the future as king of the Kingdom of God. Also, we see how he is a good leader and they lead the Christian congregation today. So, our love for him should motivate us to imitate him and take the necessary steps to dedicate ourselves to Jehovah and be baptized.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

First of all, let's remember that Jesus Christ loved us by being willing to give up his life as a ransom, we did not deserve it, nor did we do anything good to deserve this act of love. In fact, he obeyed the father out of love for the father and out of love for us too. as John 3:16 says. Jesus is the only begotten son, he is the king that God has chosen to rule us as king of the Kingdom, he will do things in the best way for us in the future, and one way of showing Jesus our love is by following his example, that wonderful example that he puts us in the gospels.

In John 14:21 he mentions that whoever accepts his commandments and obeys them, we show that we love Jesus, and if we love him we come to love his Father, and the result will be that he loves us and shows us openly to him. That is why one of the steps that we must take is to dedicate ourselves to Jehovah and be baptized, baptism is a commandment of our Lord Jesus Christ, he ordered the disciples to go preach and baptize, and there is the line to preach, give Bible courses and literally baptize. He says so: make disciples, obviously to make a disciple you have to preach, you have to revisit a Bible course and that is something that is not done from one day to the next.

HIS LOVE FOR JEHOVAH

11. What is the main reason for being baptized, and why?

The main reason for being baptized is: because we love Jehovah with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. In Mark 12:30 Jesus mentioned that we must love Jehovah in this way, because he wanted to emphasize that we should not hold anything back when serving Jehovah, rather, we must love and serve him completely.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

The reason is found in what Jesus said about God's most important commandment: "Love Jehovah with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength." He did not say with a little of our heart, with a little of our soul or a little of strength, he did not say that. But notice, love who the text says, the one who gives us Bible study, the elders, the brothers of the branch of the world headquarters. Not loving the creator says the verse, says Jesus Christ, of course we are not saying that we do not love and do not respect our brothers, but baptism should not be done to please any man. 

It may be that we are disappointed along the way, and that may happen because our dedication was not to Jehovah, but to men. And that is when we can stumble, but if our dedication is to Jehovah, nothing clearly promises in the scriptures, that nothing can bring us down. Because we will have a direct communion with the creator and so come the storms, the thunder, the storms of life, we will be firm, not because we are very good, but because we are clinging to the creator, and that has a huge difference, between doing things for him for the creator and do them to please men. 

ILLUSTRATION

Images of some gifts that show Jehovah's love. 1. An assortment of fresh foods. 2. A family enjoys a cookout. 3. Jesus on the torture stake. All the good things you have and will have in the future are a gift from Jehovah. (See paragraphs 12 and 13).

12. Why do you love Jehovah? (See also pictures).

I love Jehovah because he is such a loving and just God that he laid the foundation for us to develop a close relationship with him. Through Jesus' rescue, it was possible for us to have the opportunity to live forever and enjoy all the good things he has created.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Because he is the source of life, we exist and move through him, he sent his son for us, he loved us first without deserving it. All good gifts and perfect gifts come from him, all the good things we have come from Jehovah, our family, our children, our parents, our brothers, our friends, the place where we live, what we are wearing, is thanks to Jehovah . If we walk through life in a state of gratitude to the creator, we will go through life differently from the world, because he is generous and loves us very much. 

13. Why is the ransom such a special gift?

Let's think about how much Jehovah and his son Jesus Christ love each other, he said the father loves me and I love the Father as mentioned in John 10:17 and 14 31, that relationship became stronger and stronger throughout millions of millions of years. years that was his prehuman existence before coming to Earth. 

ADDITIONAL COMMENT

How heartbreaking it must have been for Jehovah to allow his son to suffer and die, but Jehovah out of love for humanity and for each of us gave his only begotten son as a sacrifice so that we might live forever. There he is, he already paid the price, it's up to us so to speak to get on. In what sense? It's like a plane ticket, the flight has already been paid for, now we just have to board it, get on it. But they won't force us to get on. So everyone who gets on will be able to fly because that ticket has already been paid for.

ILLUSTRATION

In the images we can see three different gifts from Jehovah the first is the sacrifice of Jesus that makes possible the forgiveness of sins and have eternal life the second is the variety of food and number and the third is life itself and Enjoy our family company.

Here is the image of all the good things we have: our children, our spouse, our family, food, the earth, trees, plants, animals, the hope of a new world, the holy spirit, the Bible, our brothers the congregation, are gifts from Jehovah.

Images of some gifts that show Jehovah's love. 1. An assortment of fresh foods. 2. A family enjoys a cookout. 3. Jesus on the torture stake. All the good things you have and will have in the future are a gift from Jehovah. (See paragraphs 12 and 13).

14. What is the best decision you can make in life?

The best decision we can make is: have and lead a life that pleases Jehovah. Therefore, every day we must strive to continue strengthening our friendship with him and be determined to serve him for all eternity.

ADDITIONAL COMMENT

Leading a life that pleases the creator is the best decision a human being can make. Of course, this is different from a religious life, many people who go to different religions, but in private live a life that displeases the creator, they do not practice the principles that are in the scriptures and we go to the congregation and we are living in a way upright, a holy way, even if we see that others do not, we will be making the best decision to please the creator, not to please men. 

15. In what way can you show your love for Jehovah?

We show that we love Jehovah, when first, we make a special prayer to tell him that we dedicate ourselves to him, because he is the only true god, and then, we must be baptized to make public that dedication that we have made in private.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

First, making a special prayer of dedication to him, the only true God, let's remember, we are not dedicating ourselves to the elderly, nor to the salesman, nor to the branch, nor to the world headquarters, we are dedicating ourselves to the creator, which transcends this system, of this world, it elevates us to see it from that perspective. Later we were baptized to make that dedication public, and from that day on, we no longer live for ourselves, we belong to the one who gave his son as a ransom. 

Romans 14:8, mentions that if we live or die we belong to Jehovah, if we have already done it, now it is up to us, so to speak, to run the race that has been set before us until the end, what is the end? Well, some have believed that it refers to Armageddon, but in reality it refers to the end of our individual life, no one is guaranteed to stand up tomorrow, since anything can happen, but the key is faithful until the end.

16. As indicated by Psalm 41:12, what reward will Jehovah give to those who use their lives to serve him?

As this Psalm says for our integrity, Jehovah will keep us in his presence forever, which means that Jehovah will take care of us and always give us back much more than we do to serve him, which includes giving us an exciting, rewarding and happy life. in the near future.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Jehovah offers us a hope to his sheep, to his faithful to those who live in integrity to live forever in a new world. The love between him and us will continue to grow in that new world, we will live forever for all eternity, no matter what we can give to Jehovah what we have to sacrifice, he promises to give us back much more, be it in this system, in this life current or next. Jehovah says in the Bible it would be an injustice for him to keep something from us, he doesn't keep anything. Even now in this world he gives us whatever exciting, rewarding, and happy life we ​​could have.

 So this makes us rethink, do we really love Jehovah? Do we really love Jesus? Do we really love to do what is right? Why do I do it? I do it, because my parents force me to do it? Because I have a reputation to take care of, an image to take care of? but deep down we are tired of what the Bible says and we must honestly answer these questions. 

17. What is something that Jehovah does not have that you can give him?

We can give Jehovah: ours and our unconditional service.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

There is nothing better that we can do with our lives than to be loyal to Jehovah and serve him unconditionally. Without a doubt, our love for Jehovah is the most powerful reason to be baptized and remain faithful until death.

As Proverbs 27:11 says, we rejoice his heart by being loyal with our lives, with our decisions, there is nothing better that we can do with our lives than serve Jehovah.

ARE YOU READY TO BE BAPTIZED?

18. What questions can you ask yourself?

Many of us are already baptized. However, there are some who are on the way to baptism, and they can go meditating on the following: Am I ready to take the step of baptism? Do I want to see the day when everyone tells the truth and does the right thing? I want the son of God to be my king and I want to follow in his footsteps? Do I want to serve Jehovah and thus rejoice his heart?

19. Why shouldn't you hesitate to get baptized? Give an example (John 4:34).

We should not hesitate to get baptized because Jehovah's will is that we repent and be baptized. Jehovah will never ask us to do something that will hurt us. Therefore, Jesus said that doing his father's will was like his food. We know that food is good for us. Therefore, Jesus knew that everything Jehovah asks of us is good for us, so it is God's will that we be baptized.

ADDITIONAL COMMENT

Jesus said that doing the father's will was like food. That is the example that food does us good. Jesus knew that everything that Jehovah asks of us is good for us, Jehovah does not ask us to do things that hurt us. In the same way that eating healthy does not hurt us. 

20. What will we see in the next article?

In the following article we will see that it will help many to be ready to take this very important step of Baptism.

OPTIONAL ANSWER

Thinking about the case of someone who wants to be baptized, we will see specifically what will help him to be ready to take that step. This person says I'm ready, nothing prevents me from being baptized. Well today we have seen some points, but the following will also help us. 

WHAT WOULD YOU ANSWER?

Why does love for truth and justice prompt us to be baptized?

Because we want to show people that we reject Satan's lies, we want them to know that we stand for the truth and love justice, we want them to realize that we have chosen Jehovah as our ruler, and that we want to obey his righteous standards. So to get this message across, we need to make a prayerful promise to Jehovah that we will serve him forever, and then we need to be baptized to make that dedication public.

ADDITIONAL COMMENT

We really want to live a life governed by truth and justice, it is not for everyone, not everyone likes the truth or justice, they like lies and injustice. We respect people who think like this, but what we do with our lives shows others that we reject the lies and injustices that we see around us, and we show that the creator Jehovah is our ruler, that's why we promise him in a prayer that we will serve him forever, then we have to be baptized to publicly demonstrate that decision. 

Why does love for Jesus Christ prompt us to be baptized?

Because Jesus is our perfect example to follow, he is our king and friend who deserves all our love, and he himself was baptized and presented himself to do his father's will. In the same way, when we are baptized, we publicly demonstrate that we have dedicated ourselves to Jehovah and that the most important thing in our lives is to do God's will and not ours.

ADDITIONAL COMMENT

Love for him Christ compels us, not in a bad sense, compels us to endure, to move on. When we look we feel that we can no longer, that we want to renounce this, this ministry, this lifestyle, so we turn to see Jesus Christ who endured, the example, the legacy he left, and that drives us, renews us, motivates us to endure with joy, no matter what happens around us. And one way to demonstrate is by following his example and obeying the command to be baptized. 

Why does love for Jehovah prompt us to be baptized?

Because our love for Jehovah has made us understand that the best we can give him is: our loyalty and unconditional service. Without a doubt, our love for Jehovah is the most powerful reason for being baptized.

ADDITIONAL COMMENT

Because it is one of the commandments: Love the creator with all your heart, with all your soul, all your mind and all your strength. What one decides to do with his life, he shows if he really loves Jehovah. There are people who say my career first, as an entrepreneur, my career at the university and then we will see if there is any time left for God and many have died in accidents and that is where they did not even finish that degree. So they did not succeed either materially and much less spiritually. Just leading a life that pleases Jehovah is the best decision anyone can make.